Unthinkable
by Vol lady
Summary: Heath agrees to take Audra to Strawberry for the first time, but what should be a sweet, nostalgic visit turns bitter when they find Hannah missing, and discover something else.
1. Chapter 1

Unthinkable

Chapter 1

"You want _what_ for your birthday?"

Nick almost dropped his fork onto his plate when Audra announced how she wanted to commemorate her 22nd birthday. Jarrod's eyes went wide, and Victoria looked startled. Heath at first looked like he couldn't believe what he heard, but then his expression changed to concern that startled Audra.

"I – want to go see Strawberry," she said again but this time there was no sparkle in her eyes. As she watched Heath's face fall, she started to feel as if she had said something horribly wrong.

Heath took a moment to phrase his response, then said, "Audra, there isn't much there anymore." Not entirely true, but the kindest way to put it, that Strawberry was no place for a beautiful young woman to be visiting.

"There are at least some things that were there when you were a boy," Audra said, collecting her resolve again. "And your aunt and uncle aren't there anymore, are they?"

"No," Heath said, "but – "

"And everyone else has been there – Jarrod and Nick and even Mother, she was the first to go there."

"And it wasn't the most pleasant of visits," Victoria quickly put in.

"But things have changed since then," Audra said. "Heath, you went back a couple months ago and you told me there were hardly any people there, but you've told me all about Hannah and I'd love to meet her. Everyone else has been there. Don't I deserve to visit too?"

"Visit isn't exactly what you do there," Heath said. "Yes, Hannah is a wonderful person, but Audra, she's getting on in years and she isn't as sharp as she once was."

"She mistook me for a man who had been there many years earlier, Audra," Jarrod said. "She got her memories mixed up."

"So?" Audra asked. "Is that any reason not to go see her? Heath, weren't you planning to go check on her in a few weeks anyway?"

"And I was planning to go with him," Jarrod said, "but I can't go until then. I have to go to San Francisco next week and I need to prepare for the trial in the meantime."

"Nick can go if you can't," Audra said.

Nick said, "No, honey, we've got round up coming up, and I need Heath here too for the next couple weeks. Your birthday is this Friday."

"We don't have to go on my birthday itself," Audra said. "I can wait."

Heath suddenly said, "No, you know what? Audra's right. She's the only one of you who hasn't been there, and Hannah is about the only one who _is_ there now. It's not a dangerous place, and Nick, you can spare me for a day or so."

Victoria said, "We have a party planned on your birthday."

"But not a big one, and we can go tomorrow and be back by tomorrow night," Audra said.

"She's right," Heath agreed. "If going to Strawberry is what she wants for a birthday present, I ought to take her there."

Victoria remembered her own unhappy visit there – but then she remembered she had gone there alone, and Heath had come to her rescue. When Heath and Jarrod had gone there a few months ago, only Hannah was left. There probably wasn't any danger, certainly not the danger that Victoria had faced, and Heath could take good care of Audra.

And they owed him that trust. Victoria said, "Yes, you should."

Nick and Jarrod looked at each other a bit dubiously, but Audra broke into smiles. "Then it's settled?" she asked. "We go tomorrow?"

"But we should just make it a day trip," Heath said. "It'll be a long one, but we can do it. Leave early and be home not long after dark, and Nick will only lose me for one day."

"That's fine with me," Audra said. "And we'll be here for my party on Friday."

"All right, then," Jarrod agreed. "That leaves you, Nick. Are you on board with this?"

"I'm outvoted no matter what," Nick said, "but yeah, I can spare Heath for a day. But if you're not back by tomorrow night, Jarrod and I will be coming after you right away, and if Coco breaks a leg in the dark – "

"We'll be back, Nick," Heath said. "I'll take good care of our little sister, and everything will be fine."

Audra beamed, and that made Heath smile. He actually did want to take her to Strawberry. She was the only one of the family who had never been there, and he did want her to see where he was born and raised. He also did want to see Hannah, to check on her and see that she was doing all right, and he wanted Audra to meet her. Tomorrow was as good a day to visit as any.

XXXXXX

Mayfair was a little town less than an hour away from Strawberry. It wasn't very big and never had been, but people still lived there and there was a general store. Heath pointed out the sign to the place when he and Audra passed it. "It's just a crummy little town, but it had a good general store when I was growing up, better than Strawberry's. Still does, last I knew. Hannah still gets her supplies there because it's the last piece of civilization you come to for a while now."

From here, the road started to climb further into the hills. Heath and Audra stopped by a little stream where it tumbled down the hillside. "I'll bet you used to play here," Audra said. "I can just see you with your shoes off, dangling your feet in the water."

Heath chuckled. "Maybe when I was seven or eight, but I was working at odd jobs by the time I was ten, and then the war came and I went off. By the time I got back, I had some healing up to do and I was too old to go dangling my feet in the creek. I didn't stay here much longer after that."

"But you came back a lot to see your mother."

Heath nodded. "Probably not nearly enough. That's the only regret I have about leaving, that I didn't come back often enough. I need to be checking on Hannah more often, too, but she's a prideful woman and she'll come after me if I fret over her too much."

"I suspect your mother would have, too."

Heath smiled at a particular memory, of how his mother often would greet him with a "Are you back again?" and a grin whenever he came into town. "You're right, she would have," Heath said.

They were mounting up again when Audra said, "Your mother was a strong and independent woman, wasn't she?"

"She was," Heath said, "but she was very gentle too, very caring about other people. She and Hannah – they were cut from the same cloth. Smiling and happy even when the going got rough, just to make sure I didn't get too scared. And they took care of each other when they needed to, too. Hannah was caring for my mother when she died. Losing my mother hurt Hannah almost as much as it hurt me, maybe even more."

"What did she look like, your mother?" Audra asked as they rode.

Heath smiled. "She was pretty. Tough like Mother is but in a softer way. Her hair was longer and she would pin it up, but only with one pin, nothing fancy. She was getting a bit gray when she died but it just made her hair sparkle more. Her eyes sparkled a lot too. She had a playful streak in her."

Audra smiled, but sadly. "I'm sorry I never got to meet her, Heath."

Heath hesitated, the thought of a meeting between his mother and his father's family not sitting well. It never would have been good. But he said, "You'd have liked her, I think." And he left off thinking about the awkwardness of it.

It wasn't much longer before Heath was pulling them up in front of the shack that Hannah called home. Things looked all right. There was wash on the line and a couple chickens were scratching around the yard, but Heath sensed something was off. Something wasn't like it usually was, but he couldn't put his finger on it. He dismounted and Audra did too, but Audra could see the scowl on his face.

"What's the matter?" she asked.

Heath just yelled, "Hannah?!"

There was no answer. Nothing moved.

"Come on," Heath said and went around the side of the house first.

They circled the house, Heath calling once or twice as they did, but no one came out or appeared anywhere. Heath noticed what had bothered him, what had seemed off, was that there was laundry on the line but it was dry and wrinkled. It had been hanging there for a while.

They got back around to the front door and Heath was suddenly frightened. Hannah was all alone here. She could have died in that house some time ago and no one would have known. "Stay out here for a minute," Heath told Audra.

Audra could read his fears. "All right," she said and stayed where she was.

Almost reluctantly, but needing to know, Heath went up to the front door. It was never locked, and it wasn't now. He turned the knob and went in.


	2. Chapter 2

Note - In "Boots with My Father's Name" Hannah's home looked to be in town, but in "Lost Treasure" it was out among the trees. For purposes of this story, I have her home just at the edge of town, where woods are nearby and some trees are between her and the town.

Chapter 2

At first Heath was very relieved. He was afraid he was going to open that door to the horrible but familiar stench of human death, but it wasn't there. It was a dark little place but enough windows had the curtains opened that he could look around thoroughly. There were a few dishes beside the sink, washed – and thoroughly dry. They had not been washed recently. The bed in the small bedroom was made, not slept in. Everything actually looked the way Hannah would be keeping it.

Maybe she had only gone to Mayfair to buy supplies. Hannah did have a horse and wagon, but the last time he saw her the horse was getting old and he had to repair the wagon. He decided that he'd better check the barn out back, to see if the horse and the wagon were there.

Heath went back out the front door to where Audra waited, anxious but staying where he asked her to stay. "She's not in there," he said. "I want to check the barn to see if her horse and wagon are here."

Heath took Audra by the arm and led her back to the barn. They went in – and Hannah's horse whinnied at them right away. Heath's heart sank, but the first thing he thought was that he didn't know how long it had been since the horse had been watered and fed. Was that whinny a cry for help? Heath found a bucket on the floor and handed it to Audra.

"Audra, would you go fill this at the pump? I want to water the horse. I'll check and see if there's any feed for him."

Audra took the bucket while Heath checked the feed been. There was some food there. The horse whinnied again. Heath took the feed bag off the wall and filled it from the bin.

Audra brought the bucket back in and they gave the water to the horse, who drank fervently. He hadn't had a drink in a while, Heath could tell, but he wanted to go easy on the water. The horse probably hadn't eaten for a while either. He put the feed bag on and heard his suspicions confirmed pretty fast.

"Hannah hasn't been here for a while," Heath said.

"Where could she have gone?" Audra asked.

"I don't know, but we better look around the area a bit, see if something happened to her. Maybe she hurt herself out there somewhere."

Audra said, "I'll look toward the front – that road goes into town, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, but don't go into town without me," Heath said. "Just go about a hundred feet or so, nose around the woods to either side, and come right back here, no more than half an hour. Wait for me by the horses if I'm not there. I'm gonna look toward the back."

They split up, and in moments Audra was headed down the road toward the town. She took it carefully but not too slowly. The woods were old and not too heavy with undergrowth, so it was easy to see through them. Audra stepped into them in several spots, going in fifty feet or so but keeping the road in sight so she didn't get turned around. She found nothing, anywhere, despite looking everywhere she could on both sides of the road.

In the back, Heath faced nothing but woods but he too dove into them, although a little more deeply than Audra had. He could keep the house in sight for a further distance and could cover more ground than Audra had, but he didn't find anything either. He was partly relieved, but partly more scared. Where was Hannah? She clearly hadn't been around her own home for a while, very unlike her. Where had she gone, and what made her leave?

This was what he had worried about for years, ever since Strawberry completely shut down and left Hannah here alone. He had been scared every time he thought of her that something would happen, that she'd get sick or get hurt and there would be no one to help her. Or worse yet, some scum of the earth would come along and victimize her. But Hannah never would leave. This was her home, and she was staying, and she would hear no argument about it. _I should have made her go_.

Heath ultimately gave up and headed back for the barn to check on the horse. The horse had finished eating, so Heath removed the feedbag. There was still a little water in the bucket so Heath let the horse finish it off.

Heath gave the horse a rub on the neck. "What happened to Hannah, old boy?" he asked. "You know, don't you? You'd tell me if you could. God, I wish you could."

The horse nuzzled him a little, a horse thank you for feeding him and watering him.

Heath rubbed the big neck some more. "Don't worry, I'll see you're taken care of no matter what's happened."

A cat wandered by and rubbed Heath's ankle. Just a regular barn cat. Heath didn't worry too much about them. Cats could jump up on the edge of the watering trough and drink for themselves, and they could hunt all kinds of vermin to keep fed. Heath didn't even know how many cats there might be around here, and chances are the number changed all the time anyway. He'd leave the cats on their own.

Heath gave the horse a final pat on the neck, saying, "I'll be back," and the went back around to the front of the house.

Audra was already waiting there. Hannah was not with her either. She looked as worried as he felt.

"Did you find anything?" Audra asked.

Heath shook his head. "Not a thing. You didn't either."

"No," Audra said. "Could she have gone all the way into town, do you think?"

"Maybe, but I don't know why she would. There's nothing to go in there for."

"There wasn't the last time you were here. Maybe there is now."

Heath pulled out his pocket watch and had a look. "I think we better eat something before we head on in there. We'll eat quick."

Silas had packed them some sandwiches and apples. Heath fished the food out of his saddlebags, and he and Audra went around back to where the pump was.

They ate, took water from the pump, and didn't talk much until Audra said, "Heath, has Hannah ever disappeared like this before?"

Heath shook his head. "Not that I've known about. As long as I've known her, she's stuck close to home except to go for supplies."

"You don't think somebody else might have taken her to Mayfair, do you?"

"There's nobody else to take her," Heath said. He sighed. "I wanted to get her down there for good or get her closer to Stockton. I've tried and Jarrod tried when he was here and she just wouldn't leave. That's why we thought we'd better come back more often to check on her."

"When were you here last?"

"I came by a couple months ago. Jarrod came a month or two before that. She was fine both times, but Strawberry was worse and worse each time. Nobody around there anymore, the buildings falling down. The weeds growing up."

"When we find her, we have to talk to her and get her to leave with us," Audra said. "We can't let this happen again."

"I know," Heath said, "but Hannah could give lessons to any Barkley about stubborn. She's home here, and she just won't leave."

"We'll talk to her," Audra repeated.

Heath suspected they could talk and talk and talk and it wouldn't do any good, but he deeply hoped they'd get the chance.

In a few minutes they were finished eating. They mounted up and rode into what was left of the town of Strawberry, but what Heath had hoped was going to be a nostalgic and sweet trip now had him worried sick. Riding into town, he noticed even more damage done to the buildings that were there. Not one building looked like it would withstand a good windstorm. What if Hannah had gone into Strawberry for some reason? What if she had gotten hurt in one of these buildings and was lying somewhere beyond help?

Audra saw his concern. "We'll find her, Heath," she said. "We'll look as long as we have to."

"We promised we'd be home tonight," Heath said.

"Well, when we don't show up, Nick and Jarrod said they'd come after us tonight, remember? They'll help us look tomorrow if we have to."

Her attitude made Heath smile a little, but it faded fast. He knew they might have to search every single building, and it was going to be slow going because they would have to be very careful they didn't bring something down on themselves.

Heath tried to figure out where to start looking but that decision was made for him. Almost right away, he saw the graveyard in the distance and wanted to see his mother's grave, and talk to her. Maybe there would be something of Hannah there. Maybe his mother would find a way to answer him and tell him where Hannah was. Foolish, maybe, but Heath was grasping at straws. But maybe seeing her grave would bolster his courage, even if his mother couldn't tell him where Hannah had gone.

"I want to visit the graveyard first," he said to Audra. "I want to see how things are there, and I want you to see my mother's grave before we start looking around town. Sometimes my mother can supply a little strength when I need it."

Audra said, "I really do want to visit her. I could use the strength too."

They rode to where the graveyard sat, not very far away from where they were. Neither one of them was ready for what they found there.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Heath stopped them a good hundred feet from the graveyard. Even from that distance, Heath could see right away what was wrong, but he couldn't believe it. He couldn't process it. For a moment the whole world turned into a narrow place with that little cemetery as its only focus. Nothing else existed, anywhere, and Heath felt sickness and rage start up inside him. For a moment, he even forgot Audra was there.

Audra could see something wasn't right, too, but since she had never seen this cemetery before she couldn't quite grasp what she was looking at. "Heath, what's wrong?"

Heath shot a look her way, seeming to see her again for the first time. What immediately flashed into his mind was what happened to Audra at Highridge when that family was murdered and Audra saw it, how Victoria had explained Audra's complete shutdown in shock. Suddenly Heath's vision cleared, and he knew it could happen to her again, right now. His world expanded to the real world again.

"Audra, I want you to stay right here, you hear me?" Heath told her, calmly but firmly. "Right here."

"What is it? What's happened?" Audra asked.

"Just do what I ask," Heath said. "Stay right here until I come get you. I'm only going over to the cemetery. You won't lose sight of me, but stay right here."

Audra nodded, but she didn't understand.

Heath rode over to the cemetery, quickly dismounted and went to the grave he was so familiar with, but slowly, nervously, afraid and enraged at the same time. The stone was toppled, and so were the stones of about five other graves, but that wasn't the worst. Oh God, that wasn't the worst.

She had been buried in a pine box. Heath remembered the day, watching the dirt being piled on top of the box, saying good-bye to the mother he knew he'd never see again. Only now he was seeing her again. The grave was open. The box was open. The crumbling box, the disintegrating remains of his mother in her best dress now full of dirt and wet from rain, and oh, dear God, his mother!

Heath fell on his knees. He couldn't look. He couldn't stop looking. That beautiful woman, that lovely loving mother. What he saw couldn't be her, but it was, it was her dress, her unkempt dirty hair, her – oh, God, no, God, no.

Somebody had opened her grave and robbed it, and left it open to the sun and the rain and the animals and oh, God, no, no…

Heath burst into tears. He wanted nothing more than to hold her, to hold what was left of her down there in that hole in the ground that had once been so sacred and now was raped and violated. His head spun around and he was sure he was going to be sick. It took a minute for him to come around and see that what they had stolen was the locket she had worn around her neck when they buried her. Just a locket. All this sick violation had been for a simple, probably worthless locket.

He suddenly heard a gasp, and he looked around. Audra had come up behind him, and she saw. Heath quickly got up and hustled her away. "I told you to stay back there!" he roared at her.

Audra was open-mouthed, horrified, but not frozen into shock. She looked at her brother. "Oh, my God, Heath, that's your mother!"

Heath pushed Audra even further away. "Don't look. Don't look at it. Don't look at any of them." Five other graves had been opened and robbed as well. Heath couldn't believe it. Heath got Audra back to where he had left his horse and hers was beside it. He fumbled. He didn't know what to do. He was the one nearly frozen this time, not Audra.

Perhaps because she had been through something unspeakable before, Audra was able to be Heath's rock now. She took hold of his arms. "Heath, I'm all right," she said. "I'm all right. You have to be too."

Heath looked at her, tears streaming down his face.

"That was your mother," Audra said.

Heath nodded. "Yeah. Yeah. You have to stay right here now, and I mean it. Stay right here and don't come any closer. I have to – I have to put this all to rights as best I can. You STAY RIGHT HERE!"

Audra nodded. She would do whatever he asked, because he was going to go crazy if she didn't.

Heath quickly went back to the gravesite and got on his knees. Whoever had dug it up had left a pile of dirt and the top of the coffin lying beside the open hole. Not thinking about what he was doing, he quickly laid the top back down in the hole, on top of the box, and then pushed the dirt back into the grave with his hands, as fast as he could, as much as he could. He put the tombstone back up as best he could, and then he scrambled from violated grave to violated grave and did the same for the five others. Audra stood watching, in tears, praying, unbelieving. Working like a demon, Heath did everything he could do, then got back up.

He was full of dirt, down the front of him, on his sweaty and tear stained face, caked onto his hands, but he came to his sister and pulled her into his arms. Together they just stood and held each other and cried.

XXXXXX

Neither one of them knew how much later it was before they found the old hotel and sat down in the broken sofa that was still there. They still held each other, but Heath was thinking more straight now, now that he'd repaired that horrible sight in the graveyard as much as he could. Now that thoughts were coming to him that were prompting more thoughts.

Was it just one person who did this, or more?

Was Hannah missing because she knew something about this? She'd never have done it herself – she wouldn't have had the strength even if for some reason she went haywire and was driven somehow to dig up graves. But had she seen something? Did she run, or had someone killed her and dumped her somewhere for seeing what she saw?

Then his thinking began to get more complicated. Why was it only those five graves that were desecrated? What did those five graves have in common? Anything, or was it just coincidence? He thought and he thought, and he put something together. The stones on those graves were all tablets, no crosses. Did the person who dug them up have a sensitivity that made him avoid crosses, like maybe violating a stone with a cross would bring more of the wrath of God down on him?

Then Audra suddenly said, "It's like someone was looking for something."

"What?" Heath asked.

"I was thinking about those graves," Audra said. "Only five of them were disturbed, and they all had tablets. It's almost as if whoever did this was looking for a specific grave, marked by a tablet, that had something in it they wanted. And when they found it, they stopped digging things up. Haven't you started thinking about that too?"

Heath said, "I was just starting to. There had to be something they were looking for. These people were all paupers. There wouldn't be much of anything to steal from them, maybe a piece of jewelry but there just wouldn't be much to make it worth anybody's while."

"I wonder what it could have been they were looking for."

"I don't know," Heath said, his thinking really straightening out now, "but we don't have time to start trying to find out. We gotta find Hannah."

Audra had thought a little further along that track, too, and looked at Heath seriously, sadly. "Heath – if she saw what was happening at the graveyard, the grave robbers might have taken her."

"Or killed her," Heath said. "We gotta find out which, but we gotta look out for you and me, too. I don't know when this happened. I don't know if whoever did it is still around."

"Then we won't split up," Audra said, getting up. "Let's go now. Let's keep looking around town now."

Heath couldn't help but admire the strength his little sister was showing. Young and spitfire when he first met her, now, three years later, she was a woman, more and more like her tough mother every day, nowhere near the girl who had gone into shock in Highridge. Heath stood up with her and gave her a kiss on the forehead saying, "I'm sorry about the mud."

Audra just smiled a little. "Let's get started."

Heath wasn't sure the stairs were safe, so he went first, knowing that if they would hold him, they would hold Audra. The hotel had a number of rooms upstairs, but most of the doors were gone, and all of the furniture except for a few mattresses and chamber pots had long ago been carted away by someone or other. They didn't call as they looked, reluctant just in case someone other than Hannah was up here, someone who might have had something to do with the desecration at the cemetery, but they found no one at all. Back downstairs, a search of what had been the kitchen and the dining room didn't turn anyone up either.

They moved that way from building to building, and at first Heath didn't connect these places with anything that had ever meant anything to him, but as they went on and found no one, he started to remember that some of these buildings had once been something in his life. The old general store, shelves empty and collapsing, had been run by a couple who did not look down on him because he was illegitimate. The Feltons always gave him a stick of candy whenever he came to get provisions for him and his mother. Heath remembered that from the time he was so small he didn't even know why a lot of people looked down on him.

Heath kept most of that to himself, when he had intended it to be exactly what he would share with Audra, but until they found out what happened to Hannah, Heath didn't feel like sharing any sweet stories. Everything that was happening here was too serious, and as they kept going and searching, finding nothing and no one, he was beginning to be more worried.

Audra could tell. She tried to reassure him whenever she could but she didn't ask any questions at all. The last building they went through had housed the barber shop but now was just an empty room. Audra had to ask what kind of place it had been.

Heath told her, and it made him remember something. Something that made him smile. "I hated getting haircuts. The barber was a mean old man and scared me with those scissors, and – " And that's when he remembered something else.

"What is it?" Audra asked.

"Maybe something," Heath said, and he headed for a back room.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Heath moved quickly to the small back room of the barber shop that had housed the sink and cabinets for the barber's equipment. He remembered, and he said as he went in, "Hannah used to come clean up for the barber at the end of the day, make sure his razors and scissors were cleaned and put away and I thought maybe – "

She wasn't there. The sink still was and the pump, but the cabinets and barber tools were all gone.

But there was something, lying on the floor, in the corner that was partly concealed by the sink. Heath saw it and picked it up. A scarf, old and ratty, dark green.

"This is Hannah's," Heath said. "She's been here."

Audra's heart leapt, and she kept looking around. There was no place for anyone to be hiding, but there was a back door. Heath was already heading for it, and in a moment they were both out in an alley.

But there was no one out there now. They had already been through the buildings back there and now they went through the debris that sat in the alley, but there was nothing else. Still, Heath held onto the scarf, saying, "She was in that barber shop. Something tells me she had to run out in a hurry to leave this behind."

"But we still don't know where she is now," Audra said, still looking around. And she was noticing the shadows beginning to get long. "Heath, I know we said we'd be home tonight, but I don't want to go, not without finding out something about Hannah."

"If we don't turn up, Jarrod and Nick might show up sometime overnight," Heath said.

"And that wouldn't be bad. We'd have help trying to find Hannah in the morning."

Heath leveled a stare at her. "Those grave robbers might come back, Audra."

"We can go back to Hannah's and stay there until Jarrod and Nick show up," Audra said. "Maybe Hannah will come back there once it gets dark. Heath, I know you don't want to leave, and I don't want you to leave on my account."

Heath did want to leave and it was on Audra's account. If he had been here alone, he'd be staying. But Audra was right. Nick and Jarrod would be coming after them if they didn't get home tonight, and that would mean more help in trying to find out what happened to Hannah, if she did not come home herself.

Audra saw the wheels turning for him. "We should go to Hannah's and wait the night there," she said. "We can defend ourselves better there if the grave robbers show up again, and besides, you should clean up,"

Heath looked at himself, still covered with dirt. He could see he'd gotten some on Audra, too. "We both should. We'll go back to Hannah's place. We can clean up and look around there again before it gets dark. And you're right – she might come back once night comes on."

"I'm hoping she just went to Mayfair for provisions. I'm hoping she doesn't even know any of this happened."

"The horse and wagon are still there."

"Maybe someone else drove her there."

Heath shook his head. "There is no one else. I'm not sure what I'm hoping for, except that she's alive and she isn't hurt. Let's go."

Heath took her arm, but at first Audra didn't move. Heath looked at her, wondering what was keeping her still. Audra looked closely at him and said, "It's been an awful day. Are you all right?"

"Are you?" he asked instead.

Audra nodded. "But you had to put a graveyard back together, and your mother's grave."

Heath wondered. His mind was trying to shut out the vision of his mother's body in that desecrated grave, and he was trying to let it, but the vision was holding on hard to him. He shut his eyes against it for a moment before he opened them and nodded, looking earnestly at his sister. "I will be all right. As soon as we find Hannah and find out who did this, I will be. Don't worry about me."

"Sister's prerogative," Audra said with a little smile.

Heath returned the slight smile. "You're turning into Mother pretty quickly now, you know it?"

"I hope so," Audra said.

XXXXXXX

Audra couldn't do any better than brush the dirt from her clothes and wash her hands and face once they got back to Hannah's. Heath always carried a spare shirt in his saddlebag but that was the only clean clothing he had. He quickly got out of his dirty shirt and washed it fast in the watering trough, hanging it on the line to dry with Hannah's other dry laundry. The best he could do with his trousers was brush them off, but at least there was an improvement.

By the time he got his clean shirt on, the light was beginning to fade and it was dark among the trees. Chickens were beginning to appear, nosing around the chicken coop and the closed door. "We best just try to get settled in for the night," Heath said. "Let me go open that coop door and then get all the horses watered and fed and bedded down."

"I'll help with the horses," Audra said. "We should stay close together now that it's getting dark."

Heath nodded and opened the chicken coop door. Chickens started clucking and more chickens appeared out of the woods. Heath realized this must be a daily ritual – let them out to scratch around, tuck them in safely for the night so the fox and coyote wouldn't get them. The barn wasn't big enough to hold their own horses, so Heath and Audra just unsaddled them, brushed them down and fed and watered them but left them tethered near the watering trough. They fed and watered Hannah's horse, too, Heath saying, "We better get him out some tomorrow."

"Heath," Audra said. "I know you don't want to think about this and neither do I, but if we don't find Hannah, or we don't find her well – these animals all need to be cared for."

Heath nodded. "And there will be more to do, depending on what happens. I know. Brother Jarrod has the experience dealing with what people leave behind when – " He couldn't say the words, though he knew they might really apply now. He had already accepted inside himself that they might never find Hannah, or they might find her body. "Well, Jarrod will know what to do, legal and practical."

They turned and started to leave the barn, but they heard a noise just outside. Alarmed, Heath pulled out his sidearm, told Audra to stay where she was, and headed for the barn door. Audra jumped when a barn cat rubbed her leg, but she quickly looked back to where she could see only Heath's silhouette against the pale evening light.

Heath stuck close to the barn, moving slowly around it toward where he had heard the noise, but as he turned the corner, someone ran smack dab into him and a woman started screaming, raising her hands to her face, paralyzed with fear. But to Heath, they were the most beautiful screams he ever heard in his life. "Hannah! Hannah, it's me, Heath! It's me!"

Heath holstered his gun, held Hannah by the arms, and watched as her big eyes began to focus on him in the dim light. She was still panicked.

But Heath smiled and held onto her. "It's Heath, Hannah. It's Heath," he said, as gently as he could muster.

Hannah finally recognized him. She put her hands on his face. "Heath! Oh, my little boy, Heath!"

Audra came closer and Hannah panicked again, but Heath said, "It's all right, Hannah. This is my sister, Audra. Remember? I told you about her. This is her. This is my sister."

Audra tried a smile but she didn't know what to say to that confused and frightened face. She finally just gently said, "Hello, Hannah. I am so really happy to see you."

Heath pulled Hannah into his arms, and she began to cry. "Let's go into the house and get settled down," Heath said. "We've been looking for you all day and we know there's been trouble."

They moved toward the house together, Heath keeping his arms around the small woman who had helped raise him, who had stood by his mother all those years when others frowned on her for being a "fallen woman," this dirt poor black woman who faced her own oppression with love and gentleness. Heath had been afraid he would never see her again, and now his heart was bursting with relief and happiness – but tempered. Something was going on around here, and someone had hurt Hannah.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

When they got into the house, Audra quickly lit lamps while Heath got Hannah settled into a chair and fetched her a glass of water. He knelt in front of her, helping her drink it, holding onto her shaking hands. "Are you hurt, Hannah?" Heath asked.

"No, no, I ain't hurt," she said quickly, "but two men – they come – oh Heath, oh Heath, what they done – "

"It's all right," Heath said. "We saw the graveyard and we fixed it. The graveyard is all right. We've just been worried about you. When did those two men come?"

"I heard them ride in yesterday morning, about dawn," Hannah said. "They didn't stop here. I don't think they knew I was here. But I got suspicious, you know, and I went on into town and I saw what they was doing, and I hid."

"At the barber shop," Heath said. "I found your scarf."

"I had to run. I thought they heard me. They did what they was doing for about an hour and I heard them say they didn't want to get caught in case anybody come around and they'd come back, and they come back this morning again about dawn and dug up the graveyard some more. Oh, Heath, I didn't know what to do. I hid, I just hid, all the time I hid."

"Were they looking for something?" Heath asked.

"Yes!" Hannah said. "But they dug up all them graves and they still didn't find it and I heard them say they'd be back tomorrow morning!"

Heath exchanged looks with Audra, and he said quietly, "I do hope Jarrod and Nick come for us overnight like Nick said they would."

"Who?" Hannah asked.

"Our brothers," Heath said. "They said they'd come get us if we didn't get home tonight, and I'm hoping they do because between the three of us we can take care of whoever these men are digging up the graveyard."

Hannah put her hands on Heath's face again. "Heath – they dug up your mama's grave – "

Heath covered her hands with his and pulled them gently down, holding tight. "I know, Hannah, but I fixed it. It's all fixed now."

"Hannah, do you have some coffee?" Audra asked. "I can make us some coffee."

"Yes, yes, in that cabinet up there," Hannah said and pointed. "I got some good stew in a can I can heat up."

"I'll do that, Hannah," Audra said, smiling. "Let us take care of you tonight."

Hannah reached for Audra's hand and took it, smiling back at her. "Oh, you're my Heath's sister."

"Yes, I am," Audra said.

"Oh, you are the prettiest girl I ever seen," Audra said. "Oh, and you look just like my Heath!"

"Lots of people say that," Heath said, smiling now himself. "Hannah, are you sure you're all right?"

Hannah was all smiles now. "I am now. Oh, thank the Lord, I am now that you're here. I know everything's gonna be all right now that you're here."

XXXXXXX

They had some food and Audra got Hannah settled into her bed for the night. "She's exhausted," Audra told Heath. "She fell asleep right away."

"She's a tough woman, but the past two days had to be a nightmare for her," Heath said. He had fetched the rifle in from his saddle and was checking to make sure it was loaded. He had brought a box of shells in, too, and made sure his hand gun was loaded.

"If Jarrod and Nick come for us, they might well be here before dawn," Audra said.

"I'm hoping so," Heath said. "And I'm hoping they see the horses and stop here first."

"I'm a little afraid the grave robbers will see the horses, too," Audra said.

"They might, but by the time they get here, Jarrod and Nick ought to be here, and they'll see a lot of horses."

"And if that makes them take off?"

"We'll keep an eye out. We'll go after them. They're not gonna get away with what they've done." Heath handed her his sidearm then. "You keep hold of this. I don't want you to be without, just in case. I'd give you my holster but it'd never fit around those skinny little hips of yours."

"Skinny?" Audra said in phony indignation. "Why are you always making fun of my girlish figure?"

Heath actually laughed, for the first time since they got to Strawberry. "I never had a little sister to make fun of and I'm making up for lost time. Now, why don't you curl up somewhere and get a little sleep?"

It would be sleeping on the floor. Audra said, "I'm not tired enough yet. You need to get some rest too."

Heath shook his head. "I'm gonna close up the chicken coop and then sit myself outside the front door, in the shadows, and keep an eye out. If Nick and Jarrod do come after us tonight, they probably left already. There's some moonlight tonight for them to travel by. They could be here in the next two or three hours. I'll watch for them."

"And if they don't come before the grave robbers do? What are you gonna do?"

Heath smiled a little. "Come in here and get you, and we'll take care of them ourselves."

Now Audra smiled. "You have faith in me to do that?"

"Little Sister, I know you'll pull the trigger if you have to, but I'm hoping just pointing the gun will do the trick."

XXXXXX

It was after dinner that Victoria took herself out to the verandah and watched, and waited. She had expected Heath and Audra long before now, and upstairs Jarrod and Nick were packing saddlebags and getting ready to take off. From where she stood, Victoria could see the stable hand bringing their horses out, saddled and ready to go. She wished Heath and Audra would just ride up so her older sons didn't have to go, but by now she knew that wasn't going to happen. Something had gone wrong.

She didn't know what. She saw that rundown town in her mind's eye and tried not to picture Heath or Audra or both of them being in one when one of those buildings finally fell down. She tried not to picture a horse stumbling and leaving one of them hurt on the side of the road. She even tried not to picture them reaching Hannah's house to find out she had died alone in there and no one knew, but she chased all those unhappy notions away. Usually what happens is something you never expected to happen, and all the nightmares you conjure up do nothing except make you feel terrible.

In a moment she heard them coming and felt them beside her. Nick kissed her and then Jarrod. Nick said, "Don't worry, Mother. We'll find them."

"We'll probably run into them in a few miles," Jarrod said.

"If you don't, how long do you think it will take you to get to Strawberry?" Victoria asked.

"Midnight, one o'clock," Nick said. "Just depends on how many moon shadows we run into."

"Just be careful," Victoria said. "I don't want to hear about any broken legs, animal or human."

"Don't you worry," Jarrod said. "I'm positive we'll all come back hale and hardy tomorrow."

Victoria tried a smile, but it was a weak one and prompted only another kiss from Jarrod. Then he and Nick were off, down into the stable yard. Victoria watched their dark forms put their saddlebags on their horses, then mount up. She heard them ride away into the darkness.

She heaved a sigh. "Oh, Tom," she said quietly. "They're all out there tonight, and I can't help any one of them. Keep a watch if you can. Bring them home safe."

She often found herself talking to her husband, asking him to keep watch and try to help their children, but she couldn't remember another time when she had to ask him to look out for all of them at the same time. Yet she knew, if it were possible for Tom Barkley to look out for all of them and keep them safe, he'd do it. That had to be enough for her tonight.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

As promised, Heath parked himself outside the front door in the shadows, rifle poised and ready but hoping like crazy it was Nick and Jarrod who came riding by before any grave robbers did. Audra had curled up just inside the front door, and Heath smiled a little to hear her snoring away. Since he seldom was around her while she slept, he didn't know she could snore. He had something new to tease her about.

He didn't find it hard to stay awake. It wasn't just anticipation of his brothers arriving that was keeping him sharp. It was the anger of finding his mother's grave ruined, rising up inside of him again now that night had come on and he was alone with his thoughts. Oh, he wanted to get his hands on those grave robbers. Hands, not a gun. He wanted to throttle them, hit them, take his hands to them. He wanted it to be personal and intimate and he promised himself it would be. It would be even better if he found them near an open grave and he could shove them into it and scare the living daylights out of them that he would bury them alive.

He heard Victoria's voice. _I knew you could hate. I just didn't know how much._ The level his hatred could rise to surprised him too sometimes, but this time was no surprise. What did surprise him was that he consciously did not want to kill those men. Unlike how he had felt about Gil Anders or even Matt Bentell at first, he did not want to kill these men or see them die. He wanted them imprisoned. He wanted to hurt them but then see them imprisoned. Maybe it was because he wanted them to suffer. Maybe it was because he watched his calm, sensible older brother killing a man in cold blood out of pure hatred and revenge and had to pull his brother away. Maybe it was because he had spent years now surrounded by the love of family and not just the loneliness of having to watch out for himself all the time. Maybe it was partly just that he was getting older and learning his lessons better. Whatever it was, he knew he had himself under control. He'd throttle those grave robbers and give them a beating they'd never forget, but he wouldn't kill them. He just hoped that by dawn they'd be coming back and he'd get the chance.

He heard horses. It was nowhere near dawn, but horses were approaching. He sat up straighter, alert, hoping it was Nick and Jarrod. The horses slowed and pulled up in front of the house. He couldn't see much beyond their dark forms dismounting, but Heath knew his brothers and how they moved, how Nick's legs were so long his foot would pull him under the horse's belly when he dismounted and he almost looked like he was falling out of the stirrup, how Jarrod sat a horse as straight as the cavalryman he had been in the war and dismounted slowly, carefully. Heath didn't call them and he didn't move, but in just a moment he heard Nick's voice ask, "Should we call out?"

Heath stood up. "No need, big brother. I'm right here."

The two men stopped short but then came up to where Heath stood, just outside the front door. They could see he had a rifle. "Have you got trouble?" Jarrod asked.

"Grave robbers," Heath said.

"Grave robbers?" Nick said. "Are you kidding?"

"Who would rob graves in broken down town like Strawberry?" Jarrod asked.

"Two men who have already been here twice and I expect will be here at dawn again," Heath said. "Hannah saw them and heard them talking. She says they seemed to be looking for something in particular."

"Something buried in the graveyard?" Nick asked.

"That's what it looks like," Heath said.

"Are you and Audra all right?" Nick asked.

"We're fine, and Hannah is too," Heath said. "We just didn't want to leave with those grave robbers expected back."

Jarrod had one of those looks Heath could just about see in the moonlight that said he'd been thinking and remembering. "Something buried in the graveyard," Jarrod said. "Something somebody buried there in a grave to come back later and get."

"What are you thinking?" Nick asked.

"I'm remembering a stagecoach robbery near Mayfair a couple years ago," Jarrod said. "They caught the men they thought robbed the coach but they never found the strongbox they were supposed to have taken. The robbers are still in San Quentin, though, as far as I know, but that doesn't mean they couldn't have buried the strongbox up here and somebody else knew about it too."

"That's kinda far-fetched," Nick said.

"Maybe," Jarrod said, "but if they're digging up graves looking for something, it has to be a whole lot of something."

The door opened, and Audra stepped out, saying, "I heard voices."

"It's us," Nick said. "How are you doing, little sister?"

"I'm fine," Audra said.

"You snore," Heath said.

Nick and Jarrod chuckled. Jarrod said, "She's been snoring since she was a baby. You just haven't run into it before."

"If I wasn't so glad to see you two, I'd run you off," Audra said, "and you with them, Heath. What time is it?"

Jarrod said, "About one. You should sleep some more."

"Why don't you catch some shut-eye too, Heath?" Nick said. "I'll take watch for a couple hours out here."

"Now that you're here, I want to get your horses around back and better out of sight," Heath said. "I don't want to scare those grave robbers off before we can catch them."

"They might see the horses anyway. We saw yours shifting around when they heard us coming."

"If they see them, they see them, and we chase them," Heath said.

"In that case, we better leave our horses saddled for now," Jarrod said.

"And I'll saddle mine," Heath said.

"There's a little coffee on the stove," Audra said. "Enough for three cups, I think."

"In a while," Heath said. "Let's get things ready first."

In another half hour, the horses had been readied out back and the three Barkley brothers were in front of the house, staying back in the shadows, drinking coffee. Audra had gone back to sleep, but the men were too alert now to rest. Dawn was still several hours away, but they felt the need to talk, to plan, to be ready.

"Do you know which direction they were coming from?" Jarrod asked.

"Hannah saw them, so I reckon they came by here," Heath said. "If they go on by to town, we can follow them on foot, nice and quiet. It's right down the road."

"We need to figure out how we're gonna set ourselves up," Nick said.

"Let me do that when we get to town," Heath said. "I know the place. It'll be easier to show you where to go once we're there."

"I want to wait until they've started digging before we go for them," Jarrod said. "I want to catch them in the act so we'll be sure to get a conviction. I know that can be disturbing, Heath, I'm sorry."

"I put the graves they already dug up back to rights as best I could," Heath said. "Once they see that, they might not go digging anymore."

"If there's something like a strongbox to be found, they might risk it anyway," Jarrod said. "They've been mighty set on getting it so far. If they don't think anybody is watching, they might go digging, and if they don't and take off, we can go after them."

"We won't have anything to convict them on except Hannah," Heath said. "I love her, but she ain't the most reliable witness."

"We'll just have to go with what we get," Nick said. "But I'm with Jarrod. They're gonna start digging again, and we'll spot them."

"Heath," Jarrod said, easing into the question. "Was one of the graves they desecrated your mother's?"

"Yes," Heath said, but said no more.

"Are you all right?" Nick asked.

"I've been better," Heath said, but then he noticed the way Jarrod and Nick were looking at him, even in the dark. Concern, grief, pity. Heath didn't want to describe what he saw in his mother's grave. He just couldn't talk about it. He had to keep it inside if he was going to get through the next few hours.

"I'm sorry, Heath," Jarrod said. He was quiet a bit longer before he asked, "Are you gonna be able to hold yourself together when you see these men?"

"I thought about that," Heath said. "I want to have at them, but I don't think I want to kill them. I want to see them in prison."

"Better keep to that, brother," Nick said. "You don't want things to get out of hand."

Heath said, "I'll trust you to rein me in if I don't."

They were quiet off and on, talking softly off and on, until the light started to come up in the east. Then they pulled back further into the shadow of the house, and they were silent, and they waited.

And they heard the horses coming.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

The Barkley brothers held very still in the shadows as the two horses went by at a light canter. If the riders saw the Barkley horses in back of the house, they didn't act like it. Soon they were out of sight where the road bent into the trees.

"We should go on foot," Heath said. "It'll be quieter."

Jarrod opened the door to the house. There were no lights on inside, but the light coming through the windows let him see Audra's silhouette as she stood in the kitchen. "Audra, they're here. We're going into town on foot," he said quietly. "Is Hannah awake?"

"She's stirring," Audra said.

"Stay inside here as long as you can and keep that gun handy," Jarrod said. "If you hear any shots, you keep ready, and if you need help, fire three times. Don't light any lamps yet if you can help it."

"All right," Audra said. "Be careful."

Jarrod went back out, and he and his brothers began to move quietly down the road. It wasn't very far into town at all – Hannah's place was pretty much just at the edge of it. Within minutes they were coming around the remnants of buildings and the graveyard was in sight. They stopped before breaking cover.

"What do you want to do, Heath?" Jarrod asked.

Heath pointed. "You go right, Jarrod – be careful crossing the road so you don't get seen. Nick, go left, down there. See if you can both get within 50 feet of them but keep at an angle, don't get caught in a cross fire."

Nick squinted and looked toward the grave robbers. "They're still unloading. They're not digging yet."

"When they put a shovel in, I'm gonna move toward your way, Nick, but I'm gonna yell out at them before I get to you. When I do, we all start moving in on them. Keep those rifles good and visible."

Nick and Jarrod both nodded and moved to their positions. Heath watched them until they seemed set. Then he watched the grave robbers, but he noticed they were hesitating after putting one shovel into the ground. One of them was pointing at one of the graves Heath had repaired the day before. They knew someone had been here.

Heath began to move toward Nick's position. He had gotten to within 20 feet or so of Nick when the two grave robbers started to dig again, and they were digging fast. Heath broke out of his cover, Jarrod and Nick breaking cover right behind him, and the three of them began to move in, rifles pointed.

Heath yelled, "You can stop right there!"

Startled, the two grave robbers stopped and looked up. One of them stood still, but from his angle Jarrod could see the other was starting to go for his handgun but his brothers couldn't see it. Jarrod fired and hit the man in the arm, the handgun going flying away as he fell to the ground.

At the same moment, the other man ran. His horse was too far away to get to and the cover of fallen down buildings was closer, so he ran there, heading for the trees behind them. Heath took off after him, while Nick moved in on the other man with Jarrod. "I got this one," Jarrod said. "Go after Heath."

Nick took off running where the other man and Heath had gone. Jarrod grabbed the wounded man by his injured arm, making sure it hurt, and he dragged him to the man's horse where a nice chord of rope was waiting.

In the meantime, Audra heard the shot. Hannah was up now and heard it too. "Oh, my, no!" Hannah blurted.

"Get back under your bed, Hannah," Audra told her. "Everything will be all right and I'll come get you when it's clear."

Shaking like a leaf, Hannah did as she was told.

It was light enough to see outside now. Audra went to the door and carefully opened it just a sliver. She looked toward the town, toward the road, but what caught her eye was movement in the trees. Someone or something was coming toward the house through the trees. In a moment, she saw a man running her way, but he didn't see her. He veered off toward the back of the house, to where the horses were. She knew he was going to take one.

Audra hurried out to the corner of the house where she could see the man reaching for one of the horses. Audra fired into the air three times. The man froze. Audra pointed her gun at him and said, "Stay right where you are!"

The man didn't really have time to think about it, because Heath appeared running out of the woods, and he dropped his rifle and tackled the man straight away. Audra could see it was her brother, and she saw Nick come running out of the woods too. She pointed her gun into the air, keeping it ready but not in danger of accidentally hitting anyone.

Heath had gotten on top of the man and had him by the shirt front, smashing him against the ground again and again. Only the echo of his promise to himself - that he would not kill this man but would take his hands to him very personally and make him hurt before he got him off to prison - kept him from pounding the man's head into the earth until it broke into pieces. Heath fervently wanted this man to feel his rage, to understand what he had done, and to really, really hurt, not just die and be done with it. "That was my mother's grave you tore into!" Heath yelled. "My mother's grave!"

Nick was on top of him fast and pulled him away. "Good enough, Heath, good enough! Let him go!"

Pulled to his feet, Heath stood over the grave robber and, panting and sweating, drooled down on him so much the man started to sneeze. Heath fought to catch his breath, let the satisfaction of seeing the man bleeding in the dirt settle in. Audra came hurrying down to them. Heath moved away from the man and caught his sister into his arms while Nick pulled the man up. Nick handed his rifle off to Heath. "Where's Jarrod?" Heath asked.

"He's taking care of that other one," Nick said. "I'll tie this one up in a pretty package. Come on."

Nick hauled the man toward one of the Barkley horses, fetched a rope and started tying the man up.

"Is anyone hurt?" Audra asked Heath.

"Just that other robber Jarrod shot," Heath said. "We're all right. Are you and Hannah?"

"Oh, Hannah's under her bed," Audra said. "I better get her out."

Audra went back into the house to see to Hannah, and Heath stood there catching his breath. In a bit, he saw Jarrod heading up the road toward the house, leading both the grave robbers' horses and the second grave robber, the man's hands tied behind his back even though his sleeve was red with blood Heath could see even in the early light. Jarrod had wrapped a bandana around the man's arm so at least he wouldn't bleed to death.

"Everything all right here?" Jarrod asked as he drew close.

"Yeah, fine," Heath said.

Nick had the other robber trussed up nearby. Jarrod said, "Nick, why don't you and I take these two down to the law in Mayfair, if you can see to Audra and Hannah, Heath."

Jarrod handed the lead to one of the robber's horses to Nick, who took it saying, "We'll be back soon as we can," then giving the robber a shove and a, "Get on up there!"

Soon both robbers were mounted, as were Nick and Jarrod, and the two older Barkleys were off toward Mayfair with their prisoners. Heath had his breath back by now and his temper soothed. He went into the house and saw Audra making coffee, the pistol under her belt at her back.

"I can take that off your hands now," Heath said, reaching for the pistol.

Audra shifted so he could take it out of her belt. Heath put it back in his holster, and as soon as he did, Hannah was beside him. "Oh, Heath, I was so worried."

Heath put an arm around her and gave her a smile. "No need, Hannah. We got this all under control. Jarrod and Nick are taking those grave robbers off to jail, and I expect the law is gonna be back up here looking for whatever they were looking for."

"They're not gonna go digging up graves again, are they?" Audra asked.

"Jarrod'll make sure it gets done proper and under the law," Heath said, "but they do have to find what they were looking for so nobody else comes along looking for it. Don't worry, Hannah. Brother Jarrod will see to it good. And I sure could use some coffee."

"And some breakfast!" Hannah said. "I'm gonna go get some eggs and I got some good canned ham in the pantry and we're gonna have us a celebration!"

Audra laughed as Hannah took off out the back door. "She's one resilient lady, isn't she?"

Heath nodded. "She is."

But he worried. Hannah was still alone out here, and it was just by luck and the grace of God that he and Audra had shown up when they did, or there could have been a disaster. Heath knew Hannah just couldn't stay here alone anymore, but he didn't know what to do about it. He just knew he had to do something.

Audra understood what he was thinking by the look on his face. She squeezed his arm. "I'll help you all I can. We'll find some way to make sure she's taken care of."

"If she'll let us," Heath said. "That's the big question. Will she let us?"


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

They had a fine breakfast celebration, Hannah cooking up a storm and enjoying herself more than she had in ages. They were still finishing up when they heard a horse coming in. Heath went to the door quickly, looked out, and said, "It's Nick."

Nick came in shortly, removing his gloves and saying, "Boy, it sure smells good around here!"

"We got more!" Hannah said. "You sit right down there, Mr. Nick."

Nick sat down at the table. Audra asked, "Did you get them off to jail all right?"

"Yep, fine," Nick said as Hannah poured him some coffee. "We wired Mother that everything was all right. Jarrod's gone on to the county seat to see a judge about finding what those two were looking for in the graveyard. Seems you need a court order to go digging things up – " He saw Hannah's face. She was horrified. "Don't you worry, Hannah. Jarrod's gonna see this is done proper and respectful, but we have to get that strongbox out of there so nobody else comes looking."

"It was the strongbox they were looking for?" Heath asked.

"Yeah, one of them started talking, the one Jarrod shot," Nick said. "Seems holding back some pain killer opened his mouth. Oh, by the way, Heath." Nick fished something out of his vest pocket – a locket. "The fella with the wounded arm coughed this up, too."

Heath had told his brothers about his mother's missing locket while they were waiting for the grave robbers to show up. Heath took it, looked at it, but his heart clenched at the thought of digging his mother's grave up again just to put this with her. He said, "You know, I think I'll just keep this now. Maybe I'd like to think my mother is giving it to me."

"It's a lovely locket," Audra said. "Do you know who gave it to her?"

"No, I really don't," Heath said. "She just always wore it."

"Does it open?"

"Yeah, but there was nothing in it. Maybe there was once and it got lost, I don't know."

Nick eyed his brother. "I know this was rough on you, all of it."

Heath said, "I'll remember my mother wearing this when she was alive. I'll remember her that way, not any other way."

Hannah had some more eggs and ham cooking for Nick right away. Over her shoulder, she said, "It's gonna be good not worrying about grave robbers around here."

The Barkleys all looked at each other, thinking the same thing, worrying about Hannah grave robbers or no, wondering what to do about it. For now, they did nothing. They didn't want to end the celebration too soon.

Hannah started to sing, an old spiritual none of the Barkleys was familiar with. _My God delivered me safe and whole, I ain't gonna trouble no more_…..

XXXXXX

Nick left not long after to get back to the ranch, but Heath and Audra elected to stay another night. "We really need to talk to Hannah, but we have to be real careful about it," Heath said to Nick as he was mounting up to leave. "It's gonna take some time to work up to, 'cause she isn't gonna want to leave here."

"I know," Nick said. "Maybe Jarrod will have some ideas. He said he'd come straight back here after he finished at the court, so he ought to be here some time tonight."

Heath and Audra spent the day helping Hannah with her regular chores. Heath looked after the horses, letting Hannah's horse out for a bit of exercise. Audra and Hannah took the wash off the line. Audra carefully folded Heath's clean shirt and packed it away in his saddlebag, and as it grew dark Heath got the chickens back into the coop. It was an ordinary day of taking care of Hannah's life, and after the morning excitement, it was very relaxing.

Jarrod did turn up well after dark, announcing himself as he rode up so as not to alarm anyone. In a moment, Heath let him in the door, asking, "Did you eat something?"

Jarrod had a propensity to forget to eat when he was working on something, and he would get a little silly sometimes for lack of food. But he said, "I got something in Mayfair, and I've gotten a room there for the night. I didn't know if you'd want to stay over."

"We'll stay with Hannah," Audra said.

"I want to be here when the workmen I've lined up come in the morning," Jarrod said. "I got the court orders I needed to exhume whatever grave needs to be exhumed, and I want to be sure they get it right and leave the graveyard in better shape than they found it. That'll take a couple days, so I think I'll stay over in Mayfair until they're done."

"You need to be at my party, and then you need to be in San Francisco," Audra said. Then she brightened up with a thought. "Maybe we can bring the party here!"

Both Jarrod and Heath laughed. Jarrod said, "We'll have some kind of party, maybe in both places, and I'll be there."

Heath turned serious. Hannah was fiddling in her kitchen area with her back turned and he said quietly, "Jarrod, I want to talk to you about Hannah."

"I thought you might," Jarrod said. "You don't want to leave her here alone."

"I don't, and I tried talking to her about it a couple times today, but she's as stubborn as ever about leaving."

Jarrod looked at her in the kitchen. "The problem, Heath, is that to force her to move would require having her committed, the way Crazy Mary was."

Heath remembered the woman who had been taken from Strawberry to the asylum in Stockton, the women he had known as a boy and Jarrod had known as a lawyer. The thought of Hannah ending up like Crazy Mary had haunted Heath ever since he had found out Crazy Mary was in that asylum. He detested the thought. "Maybe there's something else we can do."

"Like finding her someplace closer to us?" Jarrod said. "That would be a good move, but is she gonna want to make it? She's been resistant even to that, and frankly, Heath, she is taking care of herself. She loses a few memories here and there, but she's taking care of herself and her home."

"But she's all alone and she's vulnerable," Audra said. "It was just thanks to God those grave robbers never found her."

"I agree," Jarrod said, "but are you ready to have her committed if she won't go anywhere? And I don't think a judge would commit her anyway. She isn't incapable of making her own decisions and taking care of herself. We just don't like that she's doing it alone."

"What else can we do?" Heath asked.

"Nothin'," Hannah said abruptly and came to where they were. She had heard them. "I am in my home and I am gonna stay here," she said. "You ain't committing me or anything like that, and I ain't gonna go moving now. I got animals to take care of and my home and me and I'm gonna do it."

Jarrod shrugged.

Heath said, "Can I at least come and check on you more often?"

"And me too," Audra said.

"And me," Jarrod said. "Nick and Mother will probably want to join in too. Once a week one of us ought to come, Hannah, just to be sure you're all right and help you fetch supplies if you need to. How about it?"

She grinned from ear to ear. "That would be most fine, most fine."

XXXXXXXX

Heath and Audra went home in the morning, but Jarrod remained in Mayfair and came up to Strawberry with the crew he'd arranged to look for the strongbox. He stopped in to see Hannah, and she gave him coffee and smiles and a big fat kiss when he told her what the plans were for the graveyard. "Don't tell anybody else yet, though," Jarrod said. "I want to surprise Heath."

Audra's birthday came up before Jarrod returned home, but that morning they were finishing up with the graveyard. They had found the strongbox and all the money safely locked into it. The surprise Jarrod planned was that he did not intend for the workmen to just restore the graves to the way they were. He had something else in mind.

On the morning of Audra's birthday, all of the other Barkleys arrived at Hannah's to find her more excited than Heath had seen her in years. "Oh, wait till you see! Wait till you see!" she gushed.

She grabbed Heath by the hand and led him on foot toward the town, Nick holding his mother's and sister's hands as they followed along. They could see the workmen finishing up and packing up, and they saw Jarrod standing beside the graveyard talking to one of the men. Jarrod saw them coming and turned to greet them. "Well, hello!" he said, gave kisses to his mother and sister, shook hands with his brothers –

And then, one by one, they were seeing what had Hannah so excited. All of the graves had been restored and their markers been reset, but there was more. The weeds had been pulled, and in their place, all over the graveyard, were wildflowers, planted carefully, many in bloom, daisies and other wildflowers of yellow and white. Jarrod said, "We've put in others that will bloom later. They won't choke out all the weeds, but they'll be coming back and spreading and even make the weeds look prettier."

"Oh, Jarrod, it's beautiful!" Audra said and kissed him.

Heath shook his hand. "You arranged for this and paid for it, didn't you?"

Jarrod shrugged. "A pittance."

Heath knew better. "Thank you, big brother," he said. And he looked at the little graveyard that had gotten so rundown, and he saw something else.

A small sign that looked like it was an historical marker like Heath had heard about them putting on battlefields from the war back east. Nothing fancy, wood and not metal or stone, but it said, "Strongbox from Mayfair robbery removed 1879."

"I'm having a stone marker cut," Jarrod said. "No use somebody else coming up here looking for that strongbox."

"You do think of everything, don't you?" Victoria said.

Jarrod smiled, looking at Heath, and then Hannah. "It all looks pretty nice, doesn't it?" he said.

"It sure do!" Hannah agreed. "It never ever looked so nice! Your mama would be pleased, Heath."

"I know she would," Heath said.

XXXXX

Epilogue

On the day Hannah finally died, she died in her own house. Heath had come to check on her and found her in bed, full of pneumonia. "I gotta get you to a doctor," he said right away.

But she said, "No. I'm fine now that my Heath is here."

And that was the end of her. She died in Heath's arms, and he cried every bit as he had ever cried for anyone.

He went to Mayfair, wired his family to come up the next day, and bought a pine box coffin, but he did not let the undertaker take care of her. He did that himself, as he had done for his mother, with as much love and tenderness as he could muster. He dug the grave and he put it in the still lovely little graveyard, as close to his mother's grave as he could make it. He found a piece of wood and carved a tombstone out of it, to serve until he could get her a fitting one – just "Hannah – Beloved," and the date of her death, since no one knew what her birthdate was.

The next day the family was there, dressed in their finest, having brought Heath's suit along for him. There was only the family, the men carrying Hannah to her grave and laying her gently down. Heath read from the Bible, then he and his brothers filled the grave in and replaced the wildflowers on top.

And that was Hannah's going off to be with the Lord and the people she had loved here on this earth. Heath was sad to see his last connection to Strawberry go, but she had gone on her terms, in the home she wanted to go in, in the arms of her Heath. Heath knew with joy in his heart that she was going home in love. No one could ever do better than that.

The End


End file.
